Nasa release video of spectacular solar eruption

A Nasa satellite has captured spectacular images of a solar flare erupting
from the eastern side of the sun.

Judged only to be medium-sized by the US space agency, the powerful flare erupted from the sun on Monday and was caught on camera by Nasa's SDO satellite.

The ejections of plasma, known as coronal mass ejections (CME), can cause electrical storms and vivid displays of the aurora borealis phenomena on Earth, but this flare was not fired in our direction according to scientists.

The strength of solar flares, caused by the release of magnetic energy stored in the sun's atmosphere, is measured on a letter scale by astronomers

The strongest eruptions, which can release as much energy as one billion megatons of TNT, fall into three categories – C, M and X – with X marking the strongest.

The latest flare registered as an M1 class, placing it in the middle of the scale.